The tangled web of lies in the kidnaping of FARC's leader Granda

08.01.05 | The Government continues tangling itself in lies in the case of the Foreign Minister of Colombian terrorist group FARC. We have gone from ignorance about the possibility that Mr. Granda was in Venezuela or kidnapped in Venezuela to accusations about bounty hunters kidnapping Granda in broad daylight. Of course, he makes no mention of the fact that Colombians may have perpetrated a kidnapping in Caracas in broad daylight and taken Granda all the way to the border without the Chavez Government doing anything about it. How efficient no? Even today, the Government continues to deny that it knew about Granda’s invitation, participation and presence in the II Bolivarian Congress, while overwhelming evidence shows that they had to know.

This is very similar to the Ballestas or Montesinos cases in which the Government tried to hide its role in those cases, only to get so tangled in its own lies that the whole thing looked foolish. That is what happens when spin doctors get used to being successful. The same is true in the Anderson case, the hero Prosecutor that was given the country’s highest honors when killed is now being accused of blackmailing those he was accusing.

In the case of Granda, the Minister of Interior and Justice immediately denied that Granda had been kidnapped in Venezuelan territory. This changed later, when it became evident that there were sufficient witnesses to the case and the terrorist group published the accusation against the Chavez Government in its website, challenging the Chavez administration to state its position with regards to that group. However, at the time the Minister of Justice said the Government had no evidence that Granda had been in Venezuela or that he participated in the II Bolivarian Congress. In fact, even today, a Chavista Deputy said that Granda attempted to speak at the Congress, but they did not know who he was. This is actually quite curious to this blogger, given that Rodrigo Granda made the following proposal at that Congress:

But this becomes essentially irrelevant with the new revelations that Granda was nationalized Venezuelan last summer, without fulfilling the prerequisite of ten years of residence in the country. Moreover, Granda had been living in Venezuela in a little known town in Aragua state called Tazajera. That town is up in the mountains about 1400 meters above sea level and is quite spectacular. That state happens to be the most pro-Chavez state in the country. Thus, it is very unlikely that Granda could live there under his own name and go back and forth between Venezuela and Colombia without the authorities knowing about it. You can read here the opinion of General Gonzalez Gonzalez on the case